Cloud technology has entered a new phase; light years away from the staid, clunky back-office functionality of 10 years ago, this new phase of cloud technology is transforming entire business sectors and forging new revenue streams from previously inconceivable avenues. In the 7th of a series of reports, commissioned by HSBC, The Economist Intelligence Unit looks at how multinationals are using the cloud to reinvent business model.

1. A report by The Economist Intelligence Unit
HARNESSING CLOUD TECHNOLOGY
How multinationals are using the cloud to
reinvent business models
Commissioned by

2. 1© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2015
Harnessing cloud technology How multinationals are using the cloud to reinvent business models
Contents
Introduction2
Chapter 1: The early adopters 3
Chapter 2: How cloud technology will shape multinational corporations in the coming years 7
Conclusion9

3. 2 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2015
Harnessing cloud technology How multinationals are using the cloud to reinvent business models
Cloud technology has entered a new phase; light
years away from the staid, clunky back-office
functionality of ten years ago, this new phase of
cloud technology is transforming entire business
sectors and forging new revenue streams from
previously inconceivable avenues.
Although there are plenty of agile, ambitious
start-ups set on using cloud technology to disrupt
and innovate business models, multinationals
can also be found at the bleeding edge of cloud-
based business innovation. If these multinationals
succeed, expect seismic shifts across both the
public and private sectors, reverberating across all
areas of industry.
Furthermore, research from Harvard Business
Review shows a correlation between a more
mature use of cloud and a variety of new business
activities. Cloud leaders—that is, companies that
take a more managed, enterprise approach—are
“significantly more likely to have launched new
products and expanded into new markets than
companies that take a more ad-hoc approach”.1
Video rental and streaming company Netflix,
for example, transitioned away from an online
subscription-based, postal DVD rental service to
launch its cloud-based film-streaming service. It
currently has 62m subscribers in over 50 countries2
,
with cloud-based entertainment streaming
accounting for 89% of the business’s revenue of
US$1.6bn in the first quarter of 2015, up from
84% a year earlier and 76% in the first quarter of
20133
. Not only has Netflix gained access to new
revenue streams across multiple jurisdictions, but
it is also disrupting traditional content-creation
business models in the entertainment industry by
commissioning its own content, for example by
distributing global hit shows House of Cards and
Orange is the New Black.
Cloud-based innovation is not just the preserve of
the entertainment sector, or even just consumer-
facing businesses. Pearson, a UK-based media
conglomerate, has launched cloud-based
educational curricula that can provide a “data
feedback loop” on student progress and which
introduce a potential new revenue stream in cloud-
based professional development for teachers.
This report will first explore the types and variety
of opportunities offered by cloud technologies. In
this context, the report will examine the case study
of the Pearson System of Courses, illustrating how
a multinational is forging new revenue streams
by putting cloud technology at the centre of new
business ventures. The report will then extrapolate
from these “early adopters” to consider how cloud
technology is likely to affect multinationals’
business models and revenue streams in the
near future.
Introduction
1
Harvard Business Review,
Cloud Computing Comes of
Age, 2015. Available at:
https://hbr.org/resources/
pdfs/comm/oracle/19128_
HBR_Oracle_Report_
webview.pdf
2
Netflix, Company Profile,
http://ir.netflix.com/
3
Netflix, Q1 15 Financials
Statements (April 15th
2015). Available at: http://
ir.netflix.com/

4. 3© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2015
Harnessing cloud technology How multinationals are using the cloud to reinvent business models
Despite its “fluffy” moniker, cloud computing
simply refers to data stored on a physical server
that can be accessed through an Internet
connection—from anywhere, at any time, using
any Internet-connected device.
Faster Internet speeds, fixed and mobile, have
increased the delivery of cloud-based services
through high-quality, reliable content delivery
(including multimedia) and near real-time
updating of cloud-based data. Cloud applications
have facilitated the delivery of a vast range of
services through Internet-connected devices,
from streaming services such as Netflix, Google
Play, Amazon Prime and Spotify through to
real-time international game play using Sony
PlayStation or multinationals accessing cloud-
based client relationship management software,
such as Salesforce.
Reimagining ownership: products as a
service
Brian David Johnson, a futurist at a multinational
technology company, Intel, says: “Technology
has radically redefined what ownership means
for businesses because cloud technology is now
supported by the Internet infrastructure. This
means that not only can you store and move all
that data, but you also have the computational
power to do things with that data.” He explains
that “it is the computational power that allows
us to, say, watch TV in the cloud, play games in
the cloud and begin to have more enterprise
ambition in the cloud.”
Just as US-based Apple revolutionised the
concept of music ownership and distribution
CHAPTER 1: The early adopters1
with the launch of its iTunes music store in
2003,4
so now is cloud technology contributing
to a cultural shift in how people interpret the
meaning of ownership, according to Mr Johnson.
This provides far-reaching opportunities for
multinationals to deliver services to anyone with
an Internet-connected device.
Apple’s iTunes was (and is) a software-based
online shop that first introduced selling single
songs via electronic file downloads, rather than
as physical products (such as vinyl, cassettes
and compact discs). By 2006, within three years
of launching, Apple had sold 1bn songs; within
five years it had sold 5bn; and after expanding
into selling TV shows, films and apps, in 2014
Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, said that iTunes software
and services were the fastest-growing part of
the business.5
Mr Johnson explains: “Apple was
able to create a business model and strike the
business deals that radically redefine what the
ownership of a song is—and that’s not from
a consumer standpoint but from a business
standpoint.”
Cloud and the “sharing economy”
Digital innovation, coupled with consumer
demands for more flexible yet personalised
products and services, has carved a new
economic era: the so-called sharing economy.
Facilitated by cloud technology, the sharing
economy allows people to share property,
resources, time and skills across online platforms.
This enables “micro-entrepreneurs” to unlock
previously unused or underused assets—such
as renting a spare room to holidaymakers via
Airbnb or allowing access to expensive assets
4
“April 28, 2003: Apple
Opens iTunes Store”, Wired,
April 28th 2010. Available
at: http://www.wired.
com/2010/04/0428itunes-
music-store-opens/
5
“Apple: First U.S. company
worth $700 billion”,
CNN, February 10th 2015.
Available at: http://money.
cnn.com/2015/02/10/
investing/apple-stock-
high-700-billion/

5. 4 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2015
Harnessing cloud technology How multinationals are using the cloud to reinvent business models
only when consumers want them; for example,
renting expensive items such as cars, tools, or
luxury watches and bags through peer-to-peer
lending schemes. This means that the business-
to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer
(B2C) markets are accepting (and increasingly
demanding) products delivered as a service.
Paul Smith, senior vice-president and general
manager for EMEA at Salesforce Marketing Cloud,
says that it is at the intersection of the “sharing
economy” and the “convenience economy” that
multinationals can find significant opportunities
for new revenue streams. Using the example
of the Dollar Shave Club6
, which operates a
subscription business model for replacement
razors, Mr Smith explains that “there are many
similar products that could very easily become a
service…[which is] a lot more transformative in
the way we’ve done things, from being product-
ownership-driven into being more service-
driven”.
Mr Smith says that this shift, powered by cloud
technology, means that multinationals that had
previously considered themselves B2B could grow
new B2C revenue streams by delivering products
as a service, particularly where convenience
is a factor. Any products that a consumer has
to remind themselves to purchase are primed,
Mr Smith explains, for a subscription service
enabling the producer to post the product
directly to the consumer. The latter benefits
from the ease of service, while the company
gains from higher customer-retention rates and
brand loyalty, as well as less dependence on an
intermediary sales channel (such as a high-street
shop).
Data-driven personalised journeys at
scale
Echoing Mr Johnson’s view, that increased
computational power helps cloud technology to
transform multinational businesses, Mr Smith
believes that multinationals now have the power
to collect and use both internal customer data
and an increasing volume and variety of external
data (such as website behaviour, tracking of
Internet Protocol addresses and social data).
These data can be shared in real time across
geographies and time zones to enhance customer
service and improve sales and marketing
functions.
In retail, this can mean that rule-based
automation prevents inappropriate marketing
messages from reaching a specific customer who
may be complaining to customer service about a
faulty product. In entertainment, it can facilitate
cross-selling opportunities; the European
division of Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE),
a Japanese multinational, uses Salesforce
Marketing Cloud to personalise and target
real-time SMS and email notifications based on
in-game play on their PlayStation connected
devices. Mr Smith says that SCE matches
these data with targeted and personalised
sales content delivered through SMS or email.
The result has been a marked increase in the
company’s engagement rate on its outbound
marketing communications and its conversion
rates on targeted calls to action.
Regional variations
Multinationals using cloud computing to process
and share internal and external data to create
personalised journeys at scale must consider
regional technological preferences and consumer
behaviour. In developed markets such as Europe,
the variations are less country-specific and more
about the concentration of industries in certain
countries and markets that are innovating using
cloud technology, Mr Smith explains; examples
include Unilever in the UK7
, food and beverage
company Nestlé in Switzerland8
and technology
company Philips in the Netherlands9
.
In Asia, Singapore is at the forefront of
incorporating cloud technology into its ambition
to become a “smart nation”. Singapore has one
of the highest smartphone penetration rates
in the world (see chart below). However, this is
only the beginning. A government agency, the
Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), has the
6
Dollar Shave Club, http://
www.dollarshaveclub.com/
7
“Case Study: Unilever”,
AWS Intel Cloud Insights,
February 25th 2015.
Available at: https://www.
cloudinsights.com/case-
study-unilever-1011058145.
html
8
“Nestlé Collaborating with
Salesforce.com to drive
digital transformation”,
PAC blog, May 27th 2013.
Available at: https://
www.pac-online.
com/nestl%C3%A9-
collaborating-
salesforcecom-drive-
digital-transformation
9
“Salesforce helps Philips
stay light years ahead of the
competition”, Salesforce.
Available at: http://
www.salesforce.com/uk/
customers/stories/philips.
jsp

6. 5© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2015
Harnessing cloud technology How multinationals are using the cloud to reinvent business models
task of transforming Singapore into a country of
complete connectivity.10
Part of this ambition is
an enabling environment for cloud technology.
A key focus for IDA is “developing capabilities
in local Software-as-a-Service companies, to
enhance their market competitiveness and
consumer focus”.11
New initiatives in cloud and
data analytics include a Data-as-a-Service pilot.12
As at late April 2015, 21 companies from various
industries were participating in the pilot.13
Africa, meanwhile, has been described as not
only a “mobile-first” continent14
but a “mobile-
only” continent, with mobile phones as common
in South Africa and Nigeria as in the US. However,
with significantly constrained smartphone
penetration, multinationals’ cloud-supported,
data-driven omnichannel business campaigns
must be sensitive to the bias towards SMS in
this region. Mr Smith says that, as smartphone
costs fall, multinationals operating in African
countries, as well as in the Middle East, are
increasingly seeing success from GPS-based push
notifications to smartphone devices, in effect
“leapfrogging” desktop computing and email.
Such regional variations in technology culture
mean that, while Europe and North America are
evolving “mobile-first” business and marketing
strategies, multinationals are becoming far
more innovative in the use of cloud and mobile
technology in Africa and the Middle East, says
Mr Smith. He singles out consumer-goods
company Unilever and beverage firm SABMiller as
strong examples in this regard.
10
“Smart Nation:
Singapore’s vision to
connect ‘everyone to
everything, everywhere, all
the time’”, International
Business Times, May 15th
2015. Available at: http://
www.ibtimes.co.uk/
smart-nation-singapores-
vision-connect-everyone-
everything-everywhere-all-
time-1500005
11
IDA, Cloud, http://www.
ida.gov.sg/Tech-Scene-
News/Infrastructure/Cloud
12
“Singapore touts data,
cloud registries in smart
nation ambition”, ZDNet,
October 29th 2014.
Available at: http://
www.zdnet.com/article/
singapore-touts-data-
cloud-registries-in-smart-
nation-ambition/
13
IDA, Data as-a-Service
Pilot, http://www.ida.
gov.sg/programmes-
partnership/enterprises/
data-as-a-service-pilot
14
“Africa not just a
mobile-first continent—
it’s mobile only”, CNN,
October 4th 2012. Available
at: http://edition.cnn.
com/2012/10/04/tech/
mobile/africa-mobile-
opinion/
Chart 1
Smartphone penetration rate
(% of total population)
Source: Google, Our Mobile Planet.
UAE
South Korea
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Norway
Australia
Sweden
Hong Kong
UK
Denmark
73.0%
62.2%
62.8%
59.0%
63.0%
64.6%
67.5%
71.7%
72.8%
73.8%

7. 6 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2015
Harnessing cloud technology How multinationals are using the cloud to reinvent business models
15
“Pearson 2014 results”,
Pearson, February 27th
2015. Available at: https://
www.pearson.com/news/
announcements/2015/
february/pearson-2014-
results.html
16
Microsoft, Customer
Stories, Pearson, March 6th
2015. Available at: https://
customers.microsoft.com/
Pages/CustomerStory.
aspx?recid=18484
Pearson is the world’s largest book publisher and
the market leader for textbooks. Thematically,
the business is transitioning from selling printed
material to selling education services; since 2013
Pearson’s online content and software revenue
has surpassed that of its traditional printed
products, generating 60% of the company’s
revenue. In its 2014 results, Pearson said that it
was “taking advantage of our new cloud-based,
mobile-ready and data-analytics capabilities”.15
Pearson has sounded its commitment to cloud-
based interactive learning; in 2014 it launched
REVEL for US university students and the
Pearson System of Courses (PSOC) for American
kindergarten students—both are cloud-based,
multimedia immersive programmes designed
to replace textbook-based learning with digital
content delivered through mobile devices.
For the PSOC, Pearson partnered with US-based
Microsoft, using its Azure Cloud Services to
process interactions with users that amounted to
tens of millions of events in the PSOC’s first four-
month period.16
Most PSOC users have selected a
hybrid cloud solution. The PSOC’s kindergarten
students also share use of tablet devices.
The integral “people component”
Michael Chai, senior vice-president of
schoolproduct technology at Pearson, says
that an “important component” of cloud-based
education provision is the power of “large-scale
data feedback loops” to improve the quality and
personalisation of education. Teachers have
different access to the courses, including an
analytical component; a teacher can monitor
group and individual student activity in real time,
as well as analyse recorded and stored data about
student performance, individually or as a class.
Mr Chai explains: “The success of cloud
technology—in other sectors as much as
in education—is dependent on the people
component and the capital component.
Delivering reliable, effective technology to
the classroom is a key enabler for improving
the efficacy of the entire system. We have had
enquiries globally for quite some time, so we
do believe there is underlying market demand
for this approach and, I would say, we’re seeing
a convergence happening at the global level
around connecting teachers and students in this
digital world.”
From a business perspective, the data collected
and stored on the cloud provide Pearson with
useful insights about patterns of learning
behaviour and about the most effective teaching
methods. It can be used at micro level—PSOC
analytics can provide granular insights selected
by classroom and time or day, for example—or
(in theory) at macro level, where schools could
benchmark themselves against competing
institutions nationally or even internationally.
Mr Chai says that PSOC data can be paired with
third-party statistics, such as socioeconomic
status or children in a school or region, and thus
be used to benchmark schools’ performance
against national norms.
Acknowledging the cultural squeamishness
around data treatment and application, Mr Chai
says “data privacy and security are extremely
important topics and at Pearson we take these
matters very seriously; at a larger level the
education industry may find positive lessons
in how the healthcare industry is handling
an analogous transition to digital.” He adds
that, although Internet infrastructure poses a
short-term challenge to cloud-based business
opportunities, the biggest longer-term challenge
is around data privacy and data-treatment laws.
Although the PSOC was initially launched in the
US—benchmarked against the country’s Common
Core State Standards—the course content
can be customised to respond to the rigorous
requirements of different countries’ education
curricula, without changing the functionality
and product structure. This should generate
growing revenue across different geographies,
the scope for expanding from English and Maths
subjects, and additional revenue streams from
professional-development modules available
to teachers. Mr Chai adds: “Not only can a
cloud-enabled solution lead to a subscription
model, it also includes a services component
that we consider critical to implementation
success.”
Case study: Pearson System of Courses

8. 7© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2015
Harnessing cloud technology How multinationals are using the cloud to reinvent business models
How cloud technology will shape
multinational corporations in the
coming years
2
Looking at the outlook for cloud technology and
its impact on multinationals, three key trends
are likely to stand out: 1) the growing market
opportunities arising from computational power;
2) the rise in corporate partnerships; and 3) the
opportunities provided by collaboration between
five generations.
The smart, connected computational
power of everything
Mr Johnson points out that “the next step in
cloud tech is to understand we are beginning
to see computational power approach zero,
which means we will be able to turn anything
into a computer”—our homes, our cities, our
offices. This can already be seen with the influx
of wearable technology, the Internet of Things
and “smart” Internet-connected cities such as
Singapore, Stockholm and Seoul.
The market opportunity for multinationals is
significant. A business-intelligence provider,
IDTechEx, forecasts that the market for
wearable technology will grow from US$20bn
in 2015 to US$70bn by 2025.17
Similarly, an
information-technology research and advisory
company, Gartner, predicts that 4.9bn items
will be connected to the Internet during 2015,
increasing to 25bn items by 202018
. Cloud
technology is instrumental in “joining up the
dots” of real-time data flow between these
devices.
The rise in corporate partnerships
Partnerships between multinationals, as well
as between multinationals and competitive new
entrants, is nothing new. What cloud technology
is changing are the types and nature of those
relationships. Pearson, for example, is nurturing
a consultative relationship with customers, which
influenced its decision to partner with Internet
infrastructure corporations.
The “Internet of Everything” is brokering
non-traditional, cross-sector partnerships and
collaborations, too, as consumers expect a higher
level of product and service interconnectedness
and compatibility. Data access and sharing will
continue to be a thorny issue for multinationals,
as data-sharing among partners fuels data-
privacy concerns.
Cloud-based apps are also introducing
multinationals to new revenue streams (and
Table 1: Internet of Things units installed base by category
(million)
2013 2014 2015 2020
Automotive 96 189.6 372.3 3,511.1
Consumer 1,842.1 2,244.5 2.874.9 13,172.5
Generic Business 395.2 479.4 623.9 5,158.6
Vertical Business 698.7 836.5 1,009.4 3,164.4
Grand Total 3,032 3,750 4,880.6 25,006.6
Source: Gartner
17
IDTechEx, Wearable
Technology 2015-2025:
Technologies, Markets,
Forecasts, January 2015.
Available at: http://www.
idtechex.com/research/
reports/wearable-
technology-2015-2025-
technologies-markets-
forecasts-000427.asp
18
“Gartner Says 4.9 Billion
Connected ‘Things’ Will Be
in Use in 2015”, Gartner,
November 11th 2014.
Available at: http://www.
gartner.com/newsroom/
id/2905717

9. 8 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2015
Harnessing cloud technology How multinationals are using the cloud to reinvent business models
potential disruptors), such as peer-to-peer
lending and crowd-sourcing/crowd-funding. An
online money-management tool, Geezeo, which
uses mobile and cloud technology to help people
to manage their household finances, supplies
its Personal Financial Management tool as an
overlay to US-listed Regions Bank, which offers
this mobile option alongside its e-banking and
traditional services19
.
The 5G workforce
For the first time in history, five generations are
working together: the traditional generation
(born pre-1945); the Baby Boomers (1946-
64); Generation X (1965-80); Generation Y,
also known as Millennials (1981-95); and the
“Linkster” generation (born after 1995). The
latter two are considered “digital natives”,
having grown up using computers and are
comfortable with sharing personal data in
the Internet-connected environment. Intel’s
Mr Johnson says that this will create “incredible
business innovation”.
He adds: “The post-Millennials—a generation
that has never known a time before the Internet,
19
“Regions Bank to Tie
New PFM Tools to Online
Banking”, American
Banker, January 25th
2013. Available at: http://
www.americanbanker.
com/issues/178_18/
regions-bank-to-tie-new-
pfm-tools-to-online-
banking-1056165-1.html
global connectivity and the cloud—set the bar
for the new generation to do incredible business
innovations. I think what keeps [multinationals]
safe, what keeps us profitable, what keeps the
engine of global commerce going are these
five generations working together, with the
newest generation a very powerful addition
to the global workforce.” Multinationals will
need to juggle meeting the needs of the digital
natives—”all that innovation coming through the
[multinationals’] door”—while supporting Baby
Boomers who have “this incredible bedrock of
knowledge”.
Global demographic changes, Mr Johnson
predicts, will fuel corporate innovation “because
all those people will have computational power
in their pockets or on their wrists, and the ability
to connect to a massive amount of computational
power in the cloud”, which provides
multinationals with a vast distribution network,
as well as powerful knowledge-sharing.

10. 9© The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2015
Harnessing cloud technology How multinationals are using the cloud to reinvent business models
Conclusion
Successful businesses are never fully formed;
businesses that thrive are constantly shaped by
the business and cultural environments around
them. The Information Age has heralded new
tools, skills, revenue streams and expectations,
while making others obsolete. Cloud technology
is part of that digital evolution. Its new phase—
as a harbinger of new distribution channels
for delivering products as a service, for faster
and more “live” information flows between
corporations and their customers—is demanding
that multinationals think bigger, and think
differently.
As computational power moves towards zero,
making it easier to add an increasing array of
physical objects to the Internet and to process
large volumes of data from multiple sources,
multinationals are ideally positioned to take
advantage of the nimbleness and “joined-up
thinking” facilitated by cloud technology.
Speed is the new currency; with cloud-based
applications facilitating crossborder, real-
time collaboration, reducing duplication and
streamlining business processes, the potential
for major time savings when taking a new
product or concept to market is enormous. When
multinationals can adopt a quick-to-market test
and iterate “lean” methodology to new products
and services, the risk from similarly nimble start-
ups that have less financial clout, fewer staff,
lower brand penetration and higher barriers to
international markets diminishes considerably.
Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of
the World Economic Forum, puts it this way: “In
the new world, it is not the big fish which eats the
small fish, it’s the fast fish which eats the slow
fish”20
.
Today, multinationals are being challenged
to reimagine ownership to consider which of
their products could be delivered as a service.
Multinationals must commit to exploring what
that intersection between the “sharing economy”
and the “convenience economy” means for their
business model(s). This requires a cultural and
mental shift from both multinational leaders and
each of their stakeholder groups, challenging
every preconceived notion that they have about
people, products, processes and place.
Although cloud adoption by businesses
and individuals has matured considerably
in the past five-to-ten years, challenges
remain. In the cultural sphere, there is some
discomfort around data and privacy issues.
There are concerns around security and the
threat of cybercrime. And challenges remain
regarding reliable and uniformed connectivity
infrastructure. Nonetheless, these challenges
also offer opportunities for innovation. The
digital juggernaut means that the potential for
harnessing cloud technology to reinvent business
models will continue to grow.
20
“Are you ready for
the technological
revolution?”, World
Economic Forum, February
19th 2015. Available
at: https://agenda.
weforum.org/2015/02/
are-you-ready-for-the-
technological-revolution/

11. 10 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2015
Harnessing cloud technology How multinationals are using the cloud to reinvent business models
Cloud technology is a top-ten strategic
trend that will have a significant impact on
organisations during the next three years.
According to David Cearley, vice-president and
Gartner Fellow at Gartner Research, “cloud is
the new style of elastically scalable, self-service
computing, and both internal applications and
external applications will be built on this new
style.”21
But unlike for start-ups, business agility can
be a challenge for multinationals, which are
often encumbered by large legacy systems
and product lines, and typically have large
workforces spanning multiple geographies.
In addition, many multinationals operate in
the glare of the spotlight, with shareholders,
board members and the media interrogating
their strategy and research and development
spending, along with potential regulatory
complexities.
Against this backdrop, how do multinationals
navigate their behemoth businesses towards
cloud-based business models, systems and
revenue streams? Here are three essential
considerations:
1) Invest in self-disrupting technology
Invest in technology, even when it disrupts
existing product lines and business systems.
John Chambers, CEO of a multinational
technology company, Cisco, says that: “A whole
series of shifts have occurred in the kinds of
technology companies rely on… All of them
required companies to make big investments in
technology. Those that didn’t were, once again,
left behind. For Cisco, each transition required
a decision about when to jump from selling a
profitable product to a new technology—often
one that would cannibalise our existing product
line. These jumps were critical, though, if we
wanted to stay ahead of the curve.”22
2) Innovate for, and leverage, existing
customers
Multinationals have significant advantage in
their existing brand power and customer base.
The latest phase in cloud technology is its swift
rise and pervasiveness. Helping a customer base
navigate the “new digital world” paves the way
for innovative cloud-facilitated services, as well
as potentially opening a new revenue stream in
itself. Consumer (B2B and B2C) expectations are
fast changing, and the data deluge—if analysed
correctly—can provide tailored insights into
a multinational’s customer base, replacing
redundant traditional “demographic” ideas.
3) Encourage technological maturity in all
roles
Pearson’s Mr Chai says that a solid foundation
of technological proficiency from staff, a
technology-embracing internal business
culture, and robust infrastructure and policies
to support daily use are essential groundwork
for multinationals to harness the cloud. He
explains: “If you want to make change happen,
by necessity it means changing the everyday
paradigm—in our case that means teachers,
in healthcare it means physicians. Then you
need to facilitate leadership readiness from
inside the business but also from institutional
stakeholders—so, for us, the superintendent
role, the head-teacher role, the teacher role,
the parent role and the student role all have to
work together towards this.”
Learning points for multinationals
21
“Top 10 Strategic
Technology Trends for 2015:
Cloud/Client Computing”, IT
Business Edge. Available at:
http://www.itbusinessedge.
com/slideshows/top-10-
strategic-technology-
trends-for-2015-08.html

12. While every effort has been taken to verify the
accuracy of this information, The Economist
Intelligence Unit Ltd. and HSBC Bank Plc cannot
accept any responsibility or liability for reliance
by any person on this report or any of the
information, opinions or conclusions set out in this
report.

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